ELECTRONICMUSIC.UK / FIELD NOTES Original practical exercises. 23 October 2026. A MOVE DISPLAY THAT HELPS YOU PLAY Sketch four states for a two-region looper: empty, armed, recording and playing. Implement the state labels before a waveform. Record a one-minute performance and check whether every state change is visible without listening. LISTEN BACK Which decision actually requires a screen? Can a player distinguish the region being heard from the region being edited? What survives a parameter reset, and is that clear? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-move-display-that-helps-you-play/ SCHWUNG: RESAMPLING AS ARRANGEMENT Capture an opening, a dense passage and a release from one source. Arrange two minutes using only these files, levels and a single send. Keep both the performed master and any useful stems, with routing notes. LISTEN BACK Does this capture replace, support or interrupt its source? Where is the recorder relative to the master effects? Can the set continue while a capture is rejected? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/schwung-resampling-as-arrangement/ FM-1: A BANK WITH A PERFORMANCE PLAN Build eight contrasting slots, then perform two project transitions: one with a sustained PLAY-role bridge and one through silence. Save the project, samples and independent voices separately and document the version used. LISTEN BACK Which sounds genuinely need long recordings? What is missing if only the project file is backed up? Does the held bridge improve the transition or merely fill it? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/fm1-a-bank-with-a-performance-plan/ FM-1: CHANGE ONE THING IN THE BROWSER Build the unchanged web preview, choose one response or display problem, and change only that behaviour. Compare a fixed phrase before and after. Record what the preview establishes and what still requires the physical device. LISTEN BACK Can the desired change be described in one sentence? Have display, range and sound-engine changes been kept separate? Which claims still require hardware testing? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/fm1-change-one-thing-in-the-browser/ A PI THAT BOOTS INTO THE PIECE Create three related graph states and a documented initial state. Close the browser, perform a normal shutdown/startup cycle and play a short set from the written startup card. Note every step that still depends on memory. LISTEN BACK What exactly tells you the instrument is ready? Which controls keep the same meaning across states? Can the simplest sound carry the performance during recovery? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-pi-that-boots-into-the-piece/ MPE INTONATION WITHOUT FIGHTING THE SURFACE Use a plain sustained patch. Compare direct and sliding arrivals, practise starting and stopping narrow vibrato, then hold one note while moving another. Record a three-note phrase under two pitch-correction settings. LISTEN BACK Is the problem calibration, mapping or movement? Can vibrato end while the note continues? Which pitch-correction behaviour fits this phrase? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/mpe-intonation-without-fighting-the-surface/ MPE: THE NOTE AFTER YOU LET GO Make stopped, decaying and suspended endings from one MPE patch. Test bent-note release, overlapping voices and pedal release with effects disabled, then restore one shared delay and perform a call-and-response with its tail. LISTEN BACK Which part of the tail still belongs to an individual voice? Does the next gesture change earlier notes unexpectedly? What deliberate action ends the accumulated sound? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/mpe-the-note-after-you-let-go/ A BROWSER SEQUENCER THAT KEEPS ITS TIME Build a four-step lane with an audio-time look-ahead scheduler and a separate visual queue. Test Stop with queued events, edit one step just before it plays, and compare live-note response with the sequenced path. LISTEN BACK Which clock decides when the sound starts? When does a pattern edit become committed? What should Stop do to queued notes and effect tails? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-browser-sequencer-that-keeps-its-time/ A VOCAL CHANNEL THAT TELLS THE TRUTH Compare a fixed vocal phrase under requested and effective capture settings. Establish dry and processed routes, make a ten-second test recording, download it and verify its contents before a full take. LISTEN BACK Are displayed settings requested values or effective values? Does monitoring Off leave recording behaviour clear? Is the saved file dry, processed or a complete mix? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-vocal-channel-that-tells-the-truth/ MAGIC: THREE LAYERS, ONE MUSICAL ARGUMENT Create pulse, texture and structural layers for one piece. Use audio for detail and one manual action for a section change. Compare a cut and a crossfade, then perform the whole piece without editing. LISTEN BACK What musical role does each layer serve? Which change requires human intention rather than a measurement? Does the image have a convincing quiet state? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/magic-three-layers-one-musical-argument/ DAISY: TWO KNOBS AND A REAL INSTRUMENT Deploy an unchanged Pod example, then map two knobs to different musical roles. Perform three minutes without the editor and note the useful combinations, dead regions and unclear states before adding another feature. LISTEN BACK Which gesture justifies a physical instrument? Do the two knobs create genuinely different decisions? What still depends on the development computer? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/daisy-two-knobs-and-a-real-instrument/ RNBO: FROM PATCH TO WEB INSTRUMENT Export one small RNBO patch with three performance controls. Implement loading, ready and audio-running states, then ask another musician to make a one-minute phrase from the deployed page without spoken help. LISTEN BACK Which parameters belong on the performance surface? Can the interface explain why sound is not ready? Are audio and MIDI/event routes both implemented? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/rnbo-from-patch-to-web-instrument/ MOVE BEYOND THE FACTORY Define a custom Move instrument in five controls or fewer. Run one supplied RNBO example using the current official setup guide, alter a single control range, and record a ninety-second performance. Judge the mapping before adding another sound engine. LISTEN BACK What can your custom page do more directly than the stock workflow? Does your idea require RNBO Takeover or an alongside-stock extension? Can you start and finish the piece without returning to the computer? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/move-beyond-the-factory/ FM-1: A SMALL BOX WITH AN OPEN DOOR Use the official FM1 Open preview to prepare a two-part piece: one repeating pattern and one live voice. Change only one modulation range or performance mapping. Save a description of the desired behaviour before deciding whether the hardware firmware needs to change. LISTEN BACK Which part of the project is open, and which remains in a binary SDK? Have you backed up voices, projects and samples separately where required? What specific gesture improves in the modified instrument? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/fm1-a-small-box-with-an-open-door/ A RASPBERRY PI WITH ONE JOB Define a Pi instrument in one sentence, then list its audio input, audio output, controller and four essential actions. Build or configure the smallest working version. Reboot it and perform a two-minute piece without editing the setup. LISTEN BACK Are you building an instrument or assembling a platform for future experiments? Which controls must be available during the phrase? What proves that the saved setup works after a reboot? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-raspberry-pi-with-one-job/ THE BROWSER IS AN INSTRUMENT Make a thirty-second routing test containing a page-played note, a MIDI-played note, a spoken phrase and an effect tail. Download it and listen outside the browser. Note exactly what was recorded and which input, output and monitoring paths were used. LISTEN BACK Does the connection display distinguish MIDI from audio? Can you enable the microphone without immediately monitoring it? Does the downloaded recording contain the complete intended mix? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/the-browser-is-an-instrument/ MAKE THE IMAGE PLAY Build one Magic scene with two shapes. Let audio level affect the first and one deliberate MIDI gesture affect the second. Use a restrained range for both. Perform a one-minute phrase containing a quiet passage, a sustained change and a clear ending. LISTEN BACK What musical relationship does the image make easier to perceive? Are you following a single MPE voice or deliberately combining voices? Can the scene remain expressive during a quiet passage? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/make-the-image-play/ BUY THE INTERFACE YOU WILL PLAY Compare two candidate platforms using the same one-sentence instrument brief. List everything needed for the first playable version, the first official example you would run, and the part you would modify. Choose only after that path is concrete. LISTEN BACK Which parts do you want to build, and which do you want already solved? Can you find a documented example close to your intended sound or gesture? What would count as a finished first instrument? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/buy-the-interface-you-will-play/ A NOTE IS A PLACE TO MOVE Play a two-note interval for thirty seconds. Keep the lower voice still while shaping only the upper voice with pressure and a small pitch movement. Swap roles. Record a final one-minute phrase with effects nearly dry, then add a restrained delay and compare what remains legible. LISTEN BACK Which gesture feels easiest to control through its middle range? Can a listener identify the moving voice without watching your hands? Does the effect preserve the gesture or replace it? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-note-is-a-place-to-move/ AT THE EDGE OF A TONE Find stable, textured and disrupted states at one pitch. Perform a ninety-second phrase that reaches the disrupted state only twice. Add a restrained repeat effect for the final third, then stop playing and allow its trail to finish. Compare the dry and processed recordings at similar loudness. LISTEN BACK Which state preserves the clearest relationship between touch and sound? Does instability change the phrase or only its surface? What does the repeat remember that the dry performance has already left behind? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/at-the-edge-of-a-tone/ KEEP THE EXPRESSION IN THE RECORDING Record two simultaneous notes with independent pitch and pressure movement. Play the take back through the same instrument, export an audio reference, then reopen the session and compare. Keep this short test beside more ambitious recordings whenever the routing changes. LISTEN BACK Does playback preserve one moving voice beside one steady voice? Do the controller and receiver use the same bend range? Would the audio reference let you detect a later mapping change? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/keep-the-expression-in-the-recording/ DESIGN AN EXPRESSIVE PRESET Create a preset with three deliberately limited gesture ranges. Record one slow note, a two-voice interval, a quiet chord and a rapid release passage. Adjust only the mapping that fails each test, then repeat the complete sequence. LISTEN BACK Where is the comfortable middle of each gesture? Which controls affect individual voices and which affect the shared effect? Can another player understand the preset from a four-line performance note? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/design-an-expressive-preset/ BEFORE THE FIRST NOTE Record a three-minute study with one sustained voice. Spend the first thirty seconds listening before playing. Make no more than five deliberate changes. Listen back once without touching the controls, then write three observations about attention rather than sound quality. LISTEN BACK Which sound did you notice only after another sound ended? Did a quieter level change the apparent centre of the piece? Where did you respond from habit rather than from listening? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/before-the-first-note/ A SMALL SOUND IS ENOUGH Make a sixty-second piece from one recording shorter than two seconds. Use only repetition, playback-rate changes, reversal, fades and level. Keep the original sound audible at least once. Export two versions with different spacing and compare them the next day. LISTEN BACK At what point did the source stop sounding like its cause? Which edit changed the phrase more than an effect would have? Can a listener follow the relationship between your three versions? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/a-small-sound-is-enough/ DRAWING A SOUND IN TIME Draw a twenty-second brightness contour and perform it on one fixed pitch. Repeat it as a loudness contour. Then combine two opposing contours at restrained depths. Record all three takes and redraw the one whose shape is clearest when heard without looking. LISTEN BACK Which parameter carried your intended shape most clearly? What changed when two gestures moved in opposite directions? Does the drawing help another person perform the idea? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/drawing-a-sound-in-time/ THE ROOM WRITES BACK Record a short spoken phrase of your own. Make six successive generations through one gently resonant filter, using each processed result as the next input and matching playback loudness for comparison. Arrange the generations with short gaps. Describe what remains recognisable at each stage. LISTEN BACK Which feature survived the longest: rhythm, vowels, pitch or breath? Where did repetition become transformation? Would one deliberate intervention improve the form? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/the-room-writes-back/ MAKE SPACE PERFORM Use a low pulse, one short chord and one recorded vocal phrase. Perform a two-minute version using only mutes, delay sends and return filtering. Send no more than three vocal fragments into the delay. Make a second version with the same material and a different pattern of absences. LISTEN BACK Which removal created the strongest arrival? Can you hear the source of every delayed fragment? Does the return contribute a rhythm or only density? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/make-space-perform/ EIGHT VOICES, ONE RELATIONSHIP Make a four-minute study that begins with two nearly tuned voices, introduces one modulation relationship and ends with a deliberate sequence of releases. Keep effects low for the first half. Write down the order of your gestures rather than every knob position. LISTEN BACK Which interaction could you recognise without looking? Did removing a voice create a new sound in the remaining voices? What is the smallest gesture that changes the musical condition? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/eight-voices-one-relationship/ RADIGUE: LISTEN FOR THE CHANGE YOU CANNOT NAME Listen to an extended Radigue passage without a visible timeline. Mark three perceived events on a second pass, then create a two-tone study with only three deliberate interventions. LISTEN BACK What counted as an event before a new note appeared? Did the source change, or did your attention move? Which intervention could be removed? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/radigue-listen-for-the-change-you-cannot-name/ KUBISCH: A MAP MADE BY LISTENING Map five changes along a familiar route, then walk it in reverse. Arrange three observations into a short sound piece or performance score, clearly distinguishing ordinary acoustic recording from induction listening. LISTEN BACK What does your sensing method leave out? How does approach change the meaning of a place? Are you documenting the route or composing a new one? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/kubisch-a-map-made-by-listening/ WINDEREN: LISTENING WITHOUT NAMING TOO SOON Make separate lists of what you hear and what you infer. Create minimally edited and transformed versions of one recording, then write a caption that clearly distinguishes source facts from interpretation. LISTEN BACK Which identification is supported, and which is a guess? What happens when the quieter layer becomes foreground? Has the recording changed your plan? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/winderen-listening-without-naming-too-soon/ JELINEK: A LOOP WITHOUT A LEADING EDGE Create two loops from your own sustained recording: one with a hidden join and one with an audible edge. Arrange two minutes with levels and entrances before adding any timbral automation. LISTEN BACK Where does your ear place the beginning? Which detail becomes prominent only through repetition? Can contrast change the loop without changing its audio? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/jelinek-a-loop-without-a-leading-edge/ IKEDA: HEARING THE BOUNDARY OF A PATTERN Make regular and irregular density studies from one quiet sound, controlling output level as events overlap. Compose a minute with one rule and one deliberate exception; optionally add slow visual movement from the same data. LISTEN BACK When do events become a texture for you? How does a missing event clarify the pattern? What does the image reveal that listening alone does not? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/ikeda-hearing-the-boundary-of-a-pattern/ MAGIC: ONE CONTROL, THREE RELATED CHANGES Create one global control for a named gesture and map it to three destinations with different ranges. Perform a phrase outwards and back, then carry the same meaning into a second scene. LISTEN BACK Can the gesture be named without technical terms? Is the middle of the control as useful as its extremes? Does the same intention survive a scene change? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/magic-one-control-three-related-changes/ HYDRA: FEEDBACK WITH AN EXIT Build source-only, accumulating and clearing versions of a Hydra patch. Perform a four-part phrase using them, then revise one moment where the image retains too much or too little history. LISTEN BACK What survives from an earlier frame? Can the clearing action be reached immediately? Does audio analysis steer the image or overwhelm it? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/hydra-feedback-with-an-exit/ TOUCHDESIGNER: MEASURE BEFORE YOU MAP Use one audioAnalysis output, inspect it during silence and two contrasting phrases, then compare raw and Lag-shaped versions. Map the result to one visual property and add a rehearsed manual override. LISTEN BACK What does the channel actually measure? Where is the apparent delay introduced? Does this visual action need a continuous value or a discrete decision? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/touchdesigner-measure-before-you-map/ PROJECTION: COMPOSE FOR THE SURFACE Map one surface using a static calibration scene. View it from three audience positions, then create a simple moving composition that uses the material’s strengths and includes a convincing quiet state. LISTEN BACK Is the problem alignment or composition? Which details survive at audience distance? What changes when the room’s light changes? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/projection-compose-for-the-surface/ GESTURE VISUALS THAT REMEMBER THE NOTE Make two shapes respond independently to two MPE notes. Test channel reuse during visual release, then compare maximum, average and last-message reductions for one shared visual parameter. LISTEN BACK Which gesture belongs to which visible object? What happens when a channel is reused? What musical meaning does your reduction rule create? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/gesture-visuals-that-remember-the-note/ BROWSER ROUTING: A SEND YOU CAN HEAR Build dry, send and return gains around one effect. Compare stopping the send with hiding the return, then compose a phrase that uses each action deliberately. LISTEN BACK Is dry audio being added twice? Does bypass clear, hide or preserve the tail? Which control decides what enters the effect? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/browser-routing-a-send-that-you-can-hear/ MIDI LEARN THAT SURVIVES THE NEXT SESSION Implement one absolute-CC binding with visible port, channel and controller identity. Test preset recall, pickup behaviour, disconnect/reconnect and reopening without the controller before adding relative encoders. LISTEN BACK What exactly identifies this binding? Does the first movement jump or take over gradually? What does the musician see when the device is absent? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/midi-learn-that-survives-the-next-session/ AUDIOWORKLET: FIRST BUILD A TRANSPARENT PATH Build a transparent gain processor, handle one-value and per-frame parameter arrays, then add one transformation. Check silence, tone, transient and a musical phrase, including parameter movement and source disconnection. LISTEN BACK What state must survive between blocks? What does absent input mean for this processor? Can an error be distinguished from an intentional mute? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/audio-worklet-first-build-a-transparent-path/ LATENCY: FIND THE DELAY BEFORE CHANGING EVERYTHING Define one timing symptom, build a clear-onset reference and compare one system change at a time. Keep software timestamps distinct from end-to-end measurements and record repeated trials. LISTEN BACK Which event is late relative to which other event? Does the reported value include the path you care about? Is the problem consistent delay or variable timing? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/latency-find-the-delay-before-changing-everything/ BROWSER PERFORMANCE: REHEARSE THE WORST PHRASE Save a repeatable demanding phrase and a simple reference. Compare graphics, voice count and effect load one at a time, then rehearse interruption, recording completion and a second session. LISTEN BACK Which part of the real performance is most demanding? What evidence identifies the expensive work? What can be reduced without losing the instrument’s character? https://electronicmusic.uk/read/browser-performance-rehearse-the-worst-phrase/